found dead. this morning, people who knew them are stunned. right now we're working to find out what happened inside that home. good morning, everybody. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. this morning politics and football are mixing. by now you've probably seen this controversial play to end monday night football became such a hot topic. it even came up on the campaign trail. this morning one politician's tweet even has some calling him a hypocrite. that story is coming up at 6:15. right now it's 6:00 a.m. an umbrella might be a good idea if you're heading out today. storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson. chances are slim. did you say a small umbrella? >> when we talk about the big rains. a big umbrella, the golf sized. folks waking up this morning to wet sidewalks and wet roads this morning. the radar is starting to quiet down. there's another little something that's going to start moving in. you can see around annapolis, what's left of those showers heading out around chestertown

off to the west again. more showers starting to make their way on through here. up around hopewell in pennsylvania. frostburg down toward morgantown. we're seeing more showers advance toward the east. there's even been a little thunder with some of those out to the west. we're not expecting everyone to see the wet weather or for the rest of the day today. some of us will get a little wet. there's a 30% chance. look at the mercury this rng mon morning. we're in the low to mid-60s. 65 in college park. 64 in camp springs. your forecast for the morning commute. umbrella ready. isolated light showers. mild start from the upper 50s to low 60s. by afternoon, 74 to 77. shower chances mainly north around maryland. a high today 84 degrees. i'll be back with the four-day forecast. right now first 4 traffic. >> thanks, veronica. ere we have a live look from chopper 4 over i-270 as you make your way closer to germantown road, the earlier

accident was just allowing the left lane to get by. now it's moved to the right shoulder lane. still seeing delays once you make your way past clarksburg road, you're heavy on the brakes, very heavy on the brakes to father hurley, and then sluggish as you continue towards germantown road. you can see choppers panning out, heavy volume in this area. let's head over to an accident. northbound on gw parkway trying to get to the inner loop of the beltway. that ramp is blocked by an accident involving an overturned vehicle. back in ten minutes with an update. aaron and eun, back over to you. new this morning, d.c. police are investigating a double shooting along "h" street southeast a few blocks away from the prince george's county line. the shooting happened around 11:30. police are not releasing many details around the case, but they say one man was shot in the head. at last check, both victims still in the hospital. and friends is community members gather to remember a well-known family dead in their virginia home. this comes as many questions remain unanswered this morning. news 4's melissa mollet joins us

live from herndon now with the latest on the investigation. melissa, good morning. >> good morning to you, aaron. that's right. we just spoke with investigators. they say the bodies have been removed from the home here in herndon, and the autopsies are scheduled forred today. investigators will be back out here again this morning. they were out here 15 hours from yesterday at noon until early this morning. we'll be back out here in just a little while. one officer has been out here on the scene since about midnight, just keeping this scene secure. they are still not saying at this point what they think happened to this family. take a look at things from out here yesterday. we know a mother and father and two teenage boys lived in the house. when the mother didn't show up for the work on monday and tuesday, a co-worker called police. they say there is no threat to the community. though the families' identities have not been officially released. neighbors and friends say the family lived here for almost 30 years, and they're simply stunned. >> it's really odd. that's what's really odd about

it. they have no idea because they were always nice. like i said, nobody's ever said in the neighborhood they've ever seen them fighting or arguing or anything like that. >> especially the children. it's just heartbreaking. they had their whole lives. it's tragic. it's tragic. >> now we know one of the boys, the older was in tenth grade. he attended westfield high. the eighth grader, a boy, attended carson rachel middle school. there's a lot of talk on twitter, and kids saying today at westfield and rachel carson, they're going to be wearing black in honor of the family. new developments in the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate at benghazi, libya. the president of libya tells nbc news the attack had nothing to do with an anti-islam film that sparked protests in several countries. he says it was a preplanned attack. there were no protesters at the site which came in two waves,

first by rocket propelled grenades and then mortars from a safe house. the video had been available for months. u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three others died in that attack. protests planned today in new york as iran's president addresses the u.n. president mahmoud ahmadinejad already spoke to leaders on monday, but today's speech in front of the general assembly is expected to be more divisive. ahmadinejad is known for denouncing israel and in the past has denied the holocaust ever happened. five minutes after the hour. president obama and mitt romney focusing on two battleground states this week, ohio and virginia. both candidates will campaign today in ohio. romney will continue his bus tour in columbus and toledo. the president will speak at two ohio colleges, bowling green and kent state. romney will be in our area tomorrow with an event at american legion post in

springfield. and president obama will be in virginia beach. the supreme court agreed to take up a drunk driving case to decide whether police can force suspected offenders into a blood test without a search warrant. it ces as a man in missouri failed a drunk driving test and refused to take a breth liathal. the police drove him to the hospital for a blood test without getting a search warrant. today pepco is expected to vote on a contract proposal for some of its workers. if the deal is rejected, union workers could go on strike. in the meantime, the d.c. public service commission will vote on a potential rate hike today. last night dozens of customers upset about the possible hike staged a protest at pepco headquarters in downtown d.c. if approved, that plan would increase bills by $5 a month. it is now 6:06. 64 degrees. ahead, extreme measures when an nfl team is threatening, following this controversial

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a strange sight forming along the scottish coast there. it looks like snow on the surface. it's actually foam. that foam is blanketing buildings, cars, houses in aberdeen. experts say the phenomenon is a result of organic materials present in the sea, like plankton, mixed with the wa ewa air and mixed up into a foam by the wind.

>> i know you wanted to do your scottish brogue. >> i would, but i don't have a good one. >> my producer says it looks like someone's been shearing sheep. sorry. it made me laugh. >> it's fluffy. that's all. >> 6:11. time for weather and traffic on the ones. storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson with the forecast. hi, veronica. >> hey, there, we don't need our sheepskin this morning. don't need to get cozy and try to stay warm because doing much better temperature-wise this rng month. we're in the 60s this morning. generally 60 to 65 degrees. 66 degrees at reagan national. off to the west, culpeper, luray, a little cooler, temperatures in the 50s. we had some rain move through around hagerstown and frostburg. that's going to come sliding through for the morning rush. just a few isolated showers. by noontime, a few showers north around the maryland/pennsylvania

border. and a better chance for rain around 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 or so. your four-day forecast, rain continues through the week and even through saturday. let's get a look at first 4 traffic with danella sealock. veronica, i'm checking on an accident live chopper 4. trying to take the ramp to the inner loop of the beltway. you are able to pass just in the right lane here. left lane is blocked by the accident. you are able to access the inner loop of the beltway. just be careful as you're taking that ramp from northbound gw parkway. let's head over this time as you're traveling in maryland, 32 eastbound at 29. crash there. police are on the scene. debris is in the roadway. and you have to stick to the left in this area, and over to the rails, still seeing a seven-minute delay. this is on brunswick east 890. no delays on the metro or vre. still ahead, she's no

stranger to controversy. madonna's explanation for something she said on stage at the verizon center.

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play every game, that's actions the green bay packers are talking about forcing the league to deal with the nfl referees. after monday night's game, the referees said pass interference should be called. but since it wasn't, the call could not be overturned. packers quarterback aaron rodgers wasn't buying it. >> when the players hit the ground in the end zone, the officials determined that both tate and jennings had possession of the ball. i call bull on that. the game is being tarnished by an nfl who obviously cares more about saving some money than having the integrity of the game diminished a little bit. >> the league office has received more than 70,000 voicemails from angry fans since monday night, and sports bookies in las vegas say the outcome shifted more than $300 million in bets. >> that questionable call also has politicians from both parties agreeing on one thing. president obama and the romney

camp both had something to zayed. the president tweeted out this, "nfl fans on both sides of the aisle hope the refs lockout is resolved soon." but it was romney's running mate and packers fan paul ryan who had the strongest words. >> it is time to get the real re refs. and you know what, it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. >> and republican wisconsin senator scott walker tweeted a call to get the unionized refs back to work. walker is famous for his crackdown of unions in his state. he responded by saying this is not a union issue. the redskins coach wallet is a little lighter this morning. the league is fining offensive coordinator kyle shanahan

$25,000. he was not happy with a ref's call and was given an unsportsmanlike penalty for berating the refs. he then chased them off the field and into the tunnel. we know madonna is no stranger to controversy, but her latest comments' the verizon center could affect the presidential election. the material girl endorsed the president at her concert. she asked the sold out audience to support the president. >> for better or for worse, all right? we have a black muslim in the white house. >> of course, the president is not a muslim. he's a christian. madonna also showed off an obama tattoo on her back. two explosions in the capital of damascus have sparked gun battles between government and rebel forces. the plablast hit the syrian arm headquarters, setting off a raging fire inside. none of the soldiers or personnel were killed in the blast. but iranian state tv says one of

its correspondents died in the crossfire after the explosions. another blast has been reported near the prime ministry building. also, new developments in spain. overnight, police there fired rubber bullets and used batons to fight off marchers who gathered in madrid to demonstrate against the government's handling of the economic crisis. 34 people were arrested. 64 others were injured in a violent crash between police and protesters. this morning the bank of spain says the country is in a deep recession. the protesters are demanding new elections, criticizing the government's tax hikes. this morning another bank targeted in cyber attacks. according to "the wall street journal," about 220 customers filed complaints of outages on the website yesterday. the complaints were that customers were having problems logging on. last week similar attacks on jp morgan chase and bank of

america's websites. a cyber group is claiming responsibility. the nationals fell to the phillies 6-3 last night, and the second place braves beat the marlins. that means the nats' first place lead is now down to four games. their magic number to remain is five. by the way, the braves clinched a playoff spot with their win last night. >> 6:21. time for weather and traffic on the ones. storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson with a bit of a warmer start. does that mean warmer day too, veronica? that means a very warm day. we're going to get into the 80s later today. take a look behind me. we've got a couple of neighborhoods here. winchester, virginia, 57 degrees. that's one of our cooler spots right now. frederick, maryland, too coming in at 59 degrees. most locations currently sitting in the low 60s, between 60 and 65 degrees. fairfax, leonardtown 61 and 63 degrees currently. at the bus stop this morning then, we're going to be in the

upper 50s to low 60s. there will be cloud cover around this morning. possibility of a light shower passing through the area. on radar, harristown, frostburg, all of this will be moving off west. kentucky and areas of indiana and ohio, that's all along the weather front. for today, 81 to 85 degrees. i like that. a slight chance for a passing shower. so it's small umbrella for today. may even get a little bit of thunder. here's a look at the seven-day forecast. saturday, still a rain chance. sunday, we're dry. danella? right now checking on the accident as you make your way eastbound 32. approaching 29. crash there is on the right side of the roadway. blocking the right lane, emergency workers are on the scene. you'll be able to get by, but you'll have to stick to the left to do so. here's a live look at duke as you make your way northbound

from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. volume is increasing just a bit. if you hurry out of the house, you might make it just in time to get a smooth ride. over to the rails, still checking them and still seeing that seven-minute delay. this is on the brunswick east train of the marc. train number 890. metro, vre both looking good right now, running on or close to schedule. aaron and eun, on over to you. >> thank you, danella. 64 degrees. ahead, it is now street legal. where drivers will soon be able to get behind the wheel of a car that drives itself.

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the university of virginia is aparparently the top party school in the country. that's according to playboy magazine. it's based on three categories -- sports, sex, and night life. uva ranked in the top 20 in each of those categories. the school is also known for its

academics. last month forbes ranked uva as the top public university in the country. google's self-driving cars are allowed on the road. the governor signed the bill into law at google's headquarters. it will set up procedures and requirements to determine when the cars are road ready. google hopes that self-driving cars will be able to drive on public streets in five years or less. we had a quick conversation about why you need a self-driving car if you have to be behind the wheel and pay attention and override what the self-driving car is doing. >> so you can put on your eyeliner and make that quick call and all that sort of stuff. i guess. technology is a good thing, right? it gets better. 6:26 is your time. ahead, why a picture posted online is raising serious questions about the crash that killed a local teen. you have to see this. the new product that lets you take nap time wherever you go. this message. experiences classrooms. sizes don't matter... by 20%. teaching to some test... he personally cannot relate to. education, children.

monumental repair. the update expected today about the major project to fix the washington monument. good morning, everybody. welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. you may be able to skip the jacket, but what about the umbrella? showers move through overnight. >> meteorologist veronica johnson is in for tom. she's on the storm team 4 weather deck. >> you can go with the long sleeves for today. we're going to be warming up today. even right now, unless you're in one of the pocket areas where

the breeze comes through. it's a damp breeze this morning. we did have rain come through our area early this morning. take a look at the radar. we're quiet from stafford to fauquier county and anne arundel county. area of showers making their way out, but more rain mainly up north and west of us, around frostburg and hagerstown. that's going to slide off to the east. the best chance for showers will be mainly around the maryland/pennsylvania border. 61 degrees in gaithersburg. cleveland park at 66. off to the west, 59. loudoun county, fauquier county, around centerville and 64 degrees in district heights right now. upper 50s west. low to mid-60s right now around town. 84 the high temperature for today. there will be quite a bit of cloud cover around today and just a slight chance for some light passing showers. our best chance will come during the afternoon hours. there's a look through the week and the first part of the weekend. we'll take a look at that and the seven-day forecast in a few.

right now first 4 traffic. i'm can ttracking breaking on the road. if you're traveling gw northbound. an overturned vehicle is c king. there's an overturned vehicle and another vehicle involved in this crash. chopper 4 is over there right now. you cannot get to the inner loop of the beltway. that ramp is closed as you make your way northbound on gw parkway. another accident eastbound 32 at 29. still seeing an accident, this time in the right shoulder lane. right lane is blocked by emergency response workers. and it looks like this is also a report of debris in the roadway. i saw individuals outside on the roadway checking things out. be airwa of that and just stick to the left to get by the accident here. i-95, this is where the delays are. northbound as you make your way past the occoquan river bridge all the way past the beltway,

travel speeds at 34 miles per hour. that ride looking like at least 17 minutes right now. this morning the national park service will announce the contractor announced to repair the earthquake damage to the washington monument. here's a live look at the monument. it sustained serious structural damage in last year's 5.8 magnitude earthquake. the top of the obelisk has several large cracks in it. the repairs are expected to cost $15 million. the monument will not reopen to the public until sometime in 2014. you can look for the latest on "news 4 today" and nbcwashington.com. this morning list are asking more questions about a crash that killed a 16-year-old cheerleader and lacrosse player after a picture was posted on twitter. take a look at this picture posted by ian heflin last week. in the tweet, he appears to brag the person that drove him to school used his knees to steer the car. on monday, heflin died in a car crash on his way to school in

falkland county, virginia. his sister was seriously injured. police are aware of the photo. police say the 17-year-old driver was not hurt and has not been charged. prince george's county police will be out in full force trying to solve two murder mysteries. officers will join a community walk in kettering and pass out flyers looking for information on the death of amber stanley. the 17-year-old was shot and killed last month during a home invasion. stanley was a senior at charles flowers high school. and police will also host a public meeting with the murder of 18-year-old marckel ross. he was shot and killed while walking to school earlier this month. police will offer a $25,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest. tonight's meeting will held at the high school at 7:00. a backyard memorial is causing a rift between two neighbors. thomas hackley said he was lucky to made it out of the world trade center towers after the acan at that. he put up a tribute for those

who did not make it out. it features a spotlight focused on the flags at his connecticut home. a neighbor called the police. police ticketed hackley. hackley fought the fine and lost. he says the battle isn't over. >> it's important. i don't want anybody to forget. that's just what it says. we will not forget. am i guilty? i'm guilty. i turned it on. i broke the ordinance, and i paid the fine, $100 fine. if that's what it is, i'll do it every day. >> hackley's neighbor says he believes the light was pointed at his house because the two don't get along. secretary of the army was injured in a bicycle accident. he was riding his bike in alexandria when the accident happened. he did not need surgery and is resting comfortably at walter reed medical center. he is expected to return to the office as soon as doctors clear him. today is the holiest day of

the jewish year, it's yom kippur. it's the day of atonement. it is traditionally spent fasting and praying. 64 degrees. the unusual text message some people in virginia say they received.

you can now help support a new pillow that promotes power naps. the ostrich pillow lets you nap at school, work, or while you're traveling. power'nas increase productivity by 34%. the pillow looks like a big sweatshirt that you pull over your head with an opening for your mouth and for your nose. you can even rest your hands inside the top of the pillow for a little extra comfort. so far the group has raised nearly $50,000 of the $70,000 that it is trying to raise to get these things out there, i guess. >> is it worth looking like a complete goof ball with it on your head? >> you will get attention. people will take your picture, and you will end up on the internet probably. i was thinking i like it. if you remember the popples, it was a stuffed animal sort of thing back in the day, maybe back in the '80s. they rolled into their own little pouch. >> that sounds familiar. i like the name of it because ostriches stick their heads into the ground to get away from the world. we need to get this for the

entire "news 4 today" team. >> eun will wear it. >> no, you, not me. >> coming up on 6:41 as we start to see sun coming over the horizon. veronica johnson has a look at the forecast. >> something tells me my teen e teenagers would love that. that's right up their alley. all right. we're getting close to sunrise right now. it's a morning that's a little milder than it's been the last couple of mornings and the afternoon. you're going to like the warmth as we push into the 80s. right now maryville, good morning to you. you're at 60 degrees. over in riverdale and brandy wine, prince george's county, you're currently at 64 degrees. radar relatively quiet right now until i widen out. we've got more showers up to the north. a few came through. right now a few more around hagerstown. those are broken showers, and those are light. isolated light showers for the

first part of our day. could even see a shower around noontime, way off to the north and up to the west. today's high 84 degrees. low to mid-80s today. our best chance of rain comes during the afternoon and evening hours. afternoon and evening wet. take a look at the four-day. in fact, seven-day forecast coming up in a couple of minutes. >> still tracking breaking news on the road. if you're traveling northbound gw parkway. right now that ramp to the inner loop of the beltway closed because of a crash there. heading over to the inner loop of the beltway, this time near connecticut avenue. seeing some delays. chopper 4 live over the scene. multi-vehicle crash now in the left shoulder lane. four vehicles were involved in this. just a bit slow as you make your way past the accident on the inner loop. let's check out outer loop. slow on montgomery county, heavy on the brakes, new hampshire avenue. as you head from i-95 trying to get to i-270, travel speeds at 34 miles per hour. looking like at least 16 minutes to make that drive.

over to 50 in maryland, very slow on the beltway. a live look at landover road, heavy on the brakes as you make your way to 295, 26 miles per hour right now. sluggish on 50 in maryland. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> danella, thank you. new this morning, d.c. police investigating a double shooting along "h" street in southeast a few blocks from the prince george's county line. that shooting happened about 11:30 last night. police are not releasing a lot of details about this case right now. they do say that one man was shot in the head. last check both victims are still in the hospital. 6:43 now. friends and community members will gather today to remember a well-known family found dead in their herndon home. it comes even as many questions remain unanswered this morning. news 4's melissa mollet joins us from herndon with more on the investigation. melissa, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, eun. we understand the bodies have been removed from the home. the autopsies are going to be completed today so they can release the identities, and we'll also know the cause and

manner of death. you can see on the scene behind me there are a couple of officers out here. they've been out here a few showers. they are waiting for investigators to come back out here and continuing to gather evidence. we know a father, mother, and two teenage boys lived in the home. investigators. there is no threat to the community. >> the priorities is the families and the friends that love this family. our top priority right now. so we're doing everything we can to determine exactly what happened in that house. >> reporter: now, we know one of the sons is in tenth grade at westfield high school. the other boy in eighth grade at rachel carson middle school.

on twitter, a lot of talk about this, a lot of sadness. a lot of memories being shared. we understand students at westfield and rachel carson planning to wear black to honor the family. the vigil is going to be held tonight at 7:30 at floris united methodist church. i'm melissa mollet, back to you. a former university of virginia lacrosse player found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend is appealing his conviction. a judge sentenced george huguely to 23 years in prison for the beating death of yeardley love in 2010. attorneys for huguely did not say the basis for their appeal, but last month a judge rejected several defense motions when huguely tried to get a new trial. new developments in the deadly attack at the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. the president of libya tells nbc news it was a preplanned attack and had nothing to do with an anti-islam movie that sparked violent protests in many countries. he says there were no protesters at the site before the attack, which came in two waves.

first with rocket propelled grenades and then with mortars at a safe house. he noted the attack happened on september 11th and the video had been available for months. the u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three others died in the attack. president mahmoud ahmadinejad already spoke at a high level meeting of leaders on monday. today's speech to the larger u.n. assembly is expected to be even more divisive. this comes on one of the holiest days of the hebrew calendar, yom kippur. ahmadinejad is known for denouncing israel and in the past has denied the holocaust ever happened. president obama appears to be opening up a significant lead in three states that could decide the race. he leads mitt romney by ten points in ohio. the president also leads his republican rival by 12 points in pennsylvania. the lead is 9 points in florida.

they'll campaign today in one of those crucial states. romney will continue in ohio with stops in cleveland, columbus, and toledo. president obama will visit two colleges, bowling green and kent state. tomorrow both men will travel to virginia. romney will be in springfield. the president in virginia beach. mitt romney's wife is showing off her sense of humor. ann romney sat down with jay leno on "the tonight show." the host joked he was impressed with her own political tact. >> you guys have been married 43 years. >> you met in high school? >> met in high school. >> was it love at first sight? tell me about that. >> it was for me. we met at this party. i will tell you my heart was just. i mean, yeah, for me it was love at first sight. i think for him too. >> was there dancing at the party? was he a good dancer? >> you know, jay, he's gotten to be a better dancer. >> that's a political err sw. that is a political answer.

>> this was ann romney's first late night interview. tim kaine's senate campaign wants virginia's attorney general to look into who's behind anonymous text messages sent to some virginiians. people in the hampton roads area sent the texts, which accused the candidate calling for a radical new tax on all americans. the messages could be illegal. it is against the law to send unsolicited text messages to someone's cell phone. kaine's political rival george allen denies having anything to do with those attacks. this weekend d.c. police will be able to use a breathalyzer to test drunk drivers for the first time in two years. trained officers will use a new calibrated meter to teftd drivers' blood alcohol equipment. the medical examiner's office will maintain that new equipment. >> there were a lot of problems with prosecution based on breath testing. there are other ways they can test whether somebody's driving under the influence. breath testing is the easiest

way to do it. >> d.c. police stopped the program two years ago when a contractor found the machines had been miscalibrated. that called into question hundreds of drunk driving convictions. the u.s. supreme court will decide whether police can force suspected drunk drivers to blood tests without a search warrant. the case comes from missouri where a man suspected of drunk driving failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer. the officer drove the man to a hospital for a blood test without getting a search warrant. now the justices will decide whether forceable blood test constitutes an unreasonable search, which is prohibited by the fourth amendment. facebook is heading to court too. the company is facing dozens of lawsuits from angry shareholders. that could be just the tip of the iceberg. cnbc's bertha coombs is here to explain. bertha, good morning. facebook does not have a dislike, thumbs down, but it's gotten a number of them since going public. the fallout continues this morning. about 50 lawsuits now filed against the social media giant. the nasdaq, where facebook

listed its ipo, and the banks that helped bring that ipo forward. in addition, securities lawyers expect hundreds of arbitration claims to be filed against brokers. facebook shares are down more than 45% since it went public on may 18. and it has been five years now since jk rowling published the final installment of her harry potter series, and she's back with her first novel for adults. a lot of adults read those harry potter books. this one's called "the casual vacancy." it hits stores today with 2 million copies ready to go. it's the largest print run for the book group whose little brown imprint is publishing the book in the u.s. guys, it is already number two on amazon. and from what i hear, harry potter, very clean cut. this one's a little bit racy.

>> that's right. i remember a quote she said that i can't repeat on morning television. i love the harry potter books. i will definitely be reading this one. take a look here. this is called the extreme deep field. nasa combined ten years of hubble space telescope pictures to create this image. scientists say it allows us to get our deepest view of the universe ever and reveals 5,500 galaxies, some of which are billions of light years away. some of the galaxies pictured are 1/10,000,000,000 of the brightness the human eye can see. >> that's going to be my new screen saver. i feel like i should be on the starship enterprise standing there. >> are you a trekky? this guy is too. >> oh, my goodness.

>> the original or the newer ones? >> the original. come on, i'm a science person. >> it's hard to get your mind around something that significant, though. it's really crazy. >> spectacular stuff. fortunately, we know you can get your mind around the forecast. i was just outside sampling the air. it's going to be one of those days where your hair does the wonky thing. >> it's already doing it. >> and we've got a little breeze out there too. it's like a damp breeze blowing. not good for hair. as far as today goes, let's head outside. normally, we'd be showing you the sunrise, but now the sun is rising later, setting earlier. in fact, now through march 16th of next year we have less than 12 hours of daylight. boo. that's all i have to say about that. ellicott city, maryland, at 59 degrees. gaithersburg from montgomery county to howard county. reston, virginia, 58 degrees. fort washington, maryland, currently coming in at 63 degrees. temperatures are up from where

we've been the last couple of mornings. again, a little breeze out there. some of you may feel just a little chilled. on storm team 4 radar, earlier there were showers pushing east. those are long gone now. there's a few more showers in frostburg. all this sliding along a weather front that's going to be stalled out over the next couple of days. at the bus stop, a few light showers coming through in the afternoon. the best chance will be during the afternoon. we'll see our high today, warmest out of the work week, 81 to 85 degrees. for your evening, 70 to 75. may have a little bit of thunder. best chance too will be up to the north. here's a look at your four-day and seven-day forecast. a slight chance of a few showers over the next few days. saturday right now, probably our best chance of rain. 60% chance. the high of 72. sunday we're dry with a high of 74. we'll hit the roads with first 4 traffic. >> thanks, veronica.

breaking news. if you're traveling in virginia, here's the situation. eastbound franconia road, all of those eastbound lanes are blocked at beulah street because of the crash there. i have some good news, though. if you're traveling northbound gw parkway taking the ramp to the beltway, the inner loop, that ramp is now opened. crash there had the ramp closed. all travel lanes are open. heading over to i-270, it's a slow trip for you. you're just jammed in germantown. making your way from gaithersburg to rockville, you're sluggish. you can see the delays here are pretty slow. again in germantown, that's where you're going to be gripping your steering wheel there because this is a tough commute all the way down to rockville. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. 6:54 now. today the d.c. public service commission will vote on a potential rate hike for pepco. last night dozens of customers upset about the possible hike staged a protest at pepco headquarters in downtown washington. if approved, the plan would increase bills by $5,000 a month. pepco is also expected to vote on a contract proposal for some of its workers today. if the deal is rejected, union

workers could go on strike. a colorful mural that became the focus of a two-year legal fight is now gone. that mural was on the side of a dog grooming business facing a dog park. the county claimed the mural was advertising and violated a sign ordinance. federal judges agreed. the store owner says she'll have a new mural painted that meets government regulations. a teenage cancer survivor from towsend, maryland, is a lot richer. 19-year-old nick ruth won $250,000 in the mega millions lottery. after taxes, he'll take home just over $165,000. he says he'll plan to pay off his car, put money in the bank, and donate some of it. >> as a cancer survivor, i can't really pay back what people have done for me in my past. they've really helped me out a lot. i would like to give back to the community that gave to me, show them my gratitude and hopefully help someone else, just like

someone helped me. >> ruth was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005. he's been cancer free for four years. we like nick ruth around here. >> great story. absolutely. let's get the out the door forecast. chance of brief showers kind of passing right on through. small chance mainly up to the north. high today of 84. at least going to be a mild one for later today. back to you. >> thank you, veronica. and that is "news 4 today." thank you for starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with weather, traffic, and any breaking news.